Alabama

Before high Tide gymnasts can think Pink, they must beware of blue

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - As often as Alabama gymnasts appear to defy gravity, what goes up really must come down.

The Crimson Tide showed how high it could soar last week in a victory over third-ranked Florida.

But it sure was sore the next day or two.

"We had a couple people with sore muscles," Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said. "Some people came down with colds. We had some people with sore throats, congestion, one with a virus.

"When you have a high like that ... those things tend to happen right after."

Alabama soared from No. 6 to No. 2 in the latest rankings after posting a score of 197.725, its highest score in nearly eight years and the second highest score in the nation this season.

"The biggest thing," Patterson said, "is not to fall off."

When it competes at 6 p.m. CST today at No. 26 Kentucky (2-3, 0-3 in the SEC), Alabama (6-0, 3-0) will try not to look backward or forward, to its eighth annual Power of Pink meet next week against third-ranked Arkansas.

This is a Beware of Blue challenge.

"Kentucky's still an SEC school," said sophomore Diandra Milliner, who vaulted to the Tide's second perfect 10 of the season last week. "They're still pretty good. We're just going to try to have fun and stay focused and use this as good practice to move on."

Alabama has performed twice at home, before crowds of 14,501 and 12,457. Kentucky has drawn 3,686 and 1,697 to its two home meets.

"Being on the road, not having our own crowd, sometimes gets us down," Milliner said. "As a team, we create the excitement for ourselves at away meets."

The Tide is ranked No. 1 in the nation on the vault, No. 5 on the floor exercise, No. 6 on the balance beam and No. 10 on the uneven bars. Kentucky is ranked no higher than No. 24 on any event.

Alabama senior Ashley Priess is ranked No. 1 in the all-around, No. 5 on the bars and No. 8 on the beam. On the vault, senior Geralen Stack-Eaton is ranked No. 2 and junior Ashley Sledge is ranked No. 5.

Sophomore Sarah DeMeo still is buzzed about the Tide's most recent performance.

"It was well worth all the pain and sickness that came from it," she said. "It was such a great turning point for our team to finally go out there and shine. We want to build on that. We don't want to go back now."

Patterson gave her orbiting team several days to return to Earth.

"You can't stay at that level all the time," she said. "What we talked about is, we had the fire going. Then it kind of smoldered. As we go into Kentucky, we've got to ignite it again."